I'm Not Spoiling, I Promise!

Okay, you all know my Harry Potter mania. Well, I'm so happy to say that I'm not the only dweeb in the family! I managed to escape complete and total "dweebness" by maturely skipping the midnight book selling at Bookworld, but I just had to get up early and purchase the book as soon as Wal-mart opened at 7:00 this morning. Guess who I ran into there?

Brother-in-law Tom, who was there to purchase not one, but two books; one for himself and one for my MiL. Hee hee! Tom is very tall, and hates to be seen in the company of other dweebs, so this was the best picture I could get of him. . . . I thought it rather funny that he headed out of Wal-mart a few minutes later with his books under one arm, and an ENTIRE pack of Mello-Yellow in the other. (The man is addicted, I tell you! People really shouldn't form addictions . . . . ah . . . right . . . must continue . . .where was I? Ah yes, Harry Potter!!!)

After standing in line behind a sizable number of people who were all as excited as I, we managed to file into the store without any shoving or fighting to pick up our coveted tomes. I was pleasantly surprised to see a fair number of gray heads in the queue. The elderly lady who checked out ahead of me said that there was "no way her grandson was going to get to read it before she did; he'd just have to wait another day before getting his present!". Wonderful woman; displayed a true sense of priorities.

After barely suppressing the desire to giggle with glee, I headed to one of my favorite guilty haunts, Amigos, where I ordered breakfast and read for an hour or so (much to the waitress's amusement!)

Yes, I realize you can't see me very well in this photo. It's 7:00 in the morning, and I haven't fixed my hair. Deal with it.

After that, I had to head home to watch the kids for an hour so Andy could finish up a tile job. Not to worry! I put on a handy-dandy movie, and read on!

Now, Andy and I had made an "agreement", that he would watch the kids all day so I could read. I have suspicions that Andy has some goblin blood, because he "watched" the kids all day by playing 10 games of settlers (on-line game) while the kids climbed in my lap as I tried to read. Thankfully, as family members will attest, I have an amazing ability to ignore catastrophic happenings while engrossed in a book. (My brother once piled all the dining room chairs over me while I was reading; when I finished my book, I looked up to discover I was trapped in a mountain of furniture. Never noticed a thing.)

When I finished the book at 3:30 this afternoon (yes, it took me a little longer than the last book that came out. I was trying to savor the story . . .) I looked up to discover . . . .

This. (Look at all the toys piled under the piano).

And this.

All in just 7 short hours. When Andy emerges from reading the book I'm gonna kill him. It's a good thing he bought me more bottles of gin and tonic while he was "babysitting".

Avada Kadavra!

Trying Again . . .

I've been knitting steadily away on a sweater for - - - - -, and I've made some good progress (sorry the picture's sideways). The back is done, and I've started the panel for the front. However, I've hit a bit of a snag.

I know that I have a tendency (okay, let's just say a strong, irresistible urge) to over-embellish things, and knowing this, I tried very, very hard, to resist that impulse. I designed what I thought would be a simple panel for the front of the sweater. I got it knitted all the way, and was so pleased to find that my math was correct, and it was exactly centered. However, the snag came when I asked Andy for his opinion.

Not. Good.

I can't bring myself to scrap the diamond panel, but I managed to grit my teeth and take out the twisted cables. "It just looks so pretty", I wailed to Andy. "Precisely", he says to me.

So, here's the final draft of the cabled panel, minus frills. Much more boring, but faster to knit. I'm already halfway through! I've finally hit on a name: "Midwestern Man Pullover". Simple, rather unexciting, but perfectly functional and utilitarian (both the man and the sweater :)

(Hee hee, I have to get him back, after he heartlessly struck down my nice embellished cable panel. My hard work is not all for naught, however, as I'll just post the chart and call it a scarf.)

The Return of the Bunny

I guess the title doesn't sound quite as imposing as "The Return of the King", but I can assure you, I was just as thrilled to see Honey Bunny as I was to see the last of the "Lord of the Rings" movie (yes, I'm a LOTR geek all the way).

Oddly enough, it was Andy who found her. Andy wasn't working yesterday, and so he did some repair work around the house, including putting up new soffits (whatever those are). Well, he was up high on a ladder, and he saw a little white thing peeking out from under the van. Apparently, Honey Bunny thought she could camouflage herself under our white vehicle. We easily caught her, and she's back behind bars.

Thanks for all the kind wishes!

Striiiiiike Three!

Andy's part of our church league, and this year he's been the designated pitcher. Frankly, I don't know enough about softball to know if he's really that good of a pitcher, but it doesn't really matter, as I'd cheer him on anyway!

Since I happen to find the idea of men with sticks running around in circles rather boring, I have found other ways to amuse myself in the form of embarrassing cheers. For instance, the usual cheer for Andy is "Woo-hoo, Handsome on First!" (to which one of his brothers always says "I'm on second, actually!"). Our family cheer for Andy's brother Josh is "Super-Josh, Super-Josh, Rah Rah Rah!" chanted in a high-pitched tone. Breanna usually joins in with cheering for her favorite uncle, so we sound like a chorus of mice at that point.

Peter's favorite thing about softball is getting to lick a lollipop. They're only ten cents at the concession stand, so it's his traditional treat. (This is Peter trying to smile for the camera. Funny, huh?)

The first time I got to see Andy play softball coincided with Monroe's annual balloon rally, so after the game we headed to the fairgrounds to see them taking down the balloons for the evening. It was really pretty!

Bragging and Boo-boos

I just wanted to post these pictures of my two sweet babies. I was thinking this morning what a helpful little boy my Peter is. He really does quite a lot for his mommy! I bought a "Swivel Sweeper", which is a little battery-operated sweeper, and Peter loves to run that thing all around the house, keeping the floors nice and swept. He also puts the spoons and forks away for me after they've been through the dishwasher, and he's a wonderful help when it's time to pick up his toys. When the shoes get too cluttered around the doorway, he picks them up for me so that I can hang them on the shoe shelf. I'm so thankful for my little guy, and I'm really trying to teach him good things, because I always have in the back of my mind the thought that I'm raising my daughter-in-law's future husband.

Breanna helps a little bit, but her "help" mostly makes more mess. However, she hands me the dishes from the dishwasher after they've been cleaned (Andy commented that our dishes have looked a little chipped lately), and when it's time to pick up her toys, we sing the "Clean-up Song". Her little voice chirping, "Keen-up, keen-up" is adorable!

Then, yesterday, Andy sneaked in the house at his lunch break and left these beautiful roses on the counter for me to find! He's working at a farm, and the owner has a huge bush of these which he said Andy could pick. Isn't he the sweetest?

Okay, I hope I haven't been completely obnoxious by "bragging" about my family, but I'm just so thankful for them, I had to share! The Lord has been so good to me with these three wonderful Gifts.

Okay, now for the boo-boos.

Technically, this isn't a boo-boo, because it's coming along nicely. It's Breanna's Cobweb dress (I used to call it the "Impossible Dress", because it was so stinkin' difficult). Still, I swear I will NEVER knit something large with fingering weight again. NEVER!!!!! It's quite disheartening to knit and knit and not really see a lot of progress. I still have to knit a few more inches before something interesting happens. Although it's easy stockinette stitch right now, and I can usually knit that without looking, the yarn is so small I have to pay attention or I drop a stitch. Ick.

This, however, is a really big boo-boo. I cast on for a men's X-large sweater, thinking I'd just work in the round and make up my own pattern. Well, apparently my first gauge swatch wasn't quite correct, because I re-measured and discovered this sweater was 57 inches around! That would fit a hippopotamus, but not - - - - -. (Hee hee, Josh, is this for you????). Frogged again! Grrrr. I double checked my gauge again, and this time I'm off to a better start. Hopefully it'll knit up a little faster since I've got 30 fewer stitches to knit than the first time (30 stitches off - what was I thinking?).

Post from Andy

Thanks to everyone for the prayers and get-well-wishes. It has been uplifting to read the posts by so many I've never met and a few I have not seen in many years! I've been up and down the last few days (mostly down!) but I am sure that time and faithful chiro visits will eventually do the trick.

I don't think I'll be able to work this coming week, so thanks for keeping me in your prayers. Josh's Sherlock Holmes videos and Seinfeld (from Lynn) are great time-passers. I've also kept busy selling Nintendo things on Ebay.

Thanks again for your notes and prayers, Andy

Poor Andy

On Wednesday morning the kids and I went grocery shopping and spent an hour at McDonald's so they could run off some steam. When I got back to the house, I was surprised to see Andy's truck also pulling up to the house.

Now, my husband has had some serious (and by serious I mean life-threatening) work-related accidents, so whenever I see him home earlier, or get a call from him during the day, my heart slows a bit.

Poor thing; he'd hurt his back while carrying something heavy. He's very careful to lift things with his legs, but in this case, the box he was carrying slipped out of his grasp, and he lurched forward to catch it . . . . .

Anyway, I'd appreciate prayers for him. He's been going to the chiropractor every day, but the boredom and pain are really getting to him. He obviously can't work right now, so he's stuck at home unable to do much. Usually being home is a nice holiday for him, but he's so uncomfortable, he can't enjoy doing anything. Sitting for more than 30 minutes is painful, and lying flat isn't much fun for him, either.

So, anyway, that's what's going on with my poor hubby. I really hope he feels better soon; it's rather depressing watching him pace through the house, unable to get comfortable.